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 With
‘Packaging for Changing Markets’ as its theme the PackAge 2009
conference was conducted from 9- 10 July, at India Habitat Centre,
New Delhi. The conference is an annual event held con currently
with PackPlus- the country’s’ largest packaging, processing and
supply chain event. The two day conference was divided into four sessions with two sessions on each day. Day One Session I Keeping with the trend from the year before the Day one, Session one of the conferences saw the largest turn out with more than 110 delegates. The topic ‘Sustainablilty; Cradle To Cradle’ was the focus of this session, which started with a keynote address by Hari Dang, Wilderness Equity School who gave a global and Indian overview of the subject. The first paper of the day was presented by Bernd Buesing of Nestle Singapore (Pte) Ltd on ‘Packaging; sustaining the Asian environment’. “Food is the number one contributor to environmental degradation.” Buessing started his paper setting the tone for a serious discussion on issues of sustainability. Carrying on the topic was Dr U.K. Saroop of Reliance Industries Ltd on the topic of ‘Sustainable Packaging: Solutions for Edible Commodities with Polyolefins’. Probably walking in with the solution to the problem of sustainability was the presentation by Atit Bhatia, Rexam Htw Beverage Can (India) Ltd/ Hindustan Tin Works Pvt. Ltd. on ‘Cans – A Sustainable Package for the Future’ The post tea session began with the key note address from C.S. Purushotaman, SIES School of Packaging followed by a presentation by his collogue Ravi Teja on ‘Concepts in Sutainbility- Milk Packaghing Case Study, Dairy farmer to Consumer’. “The boom in the organized retail is going to be a sea change in the way milk is sold in urban centers. With milk consumption expected to rise by 2.6% in 2009,” said Teja. Proposing a discussion on the solution he added, “Examine the total life cycle of milk packaging in order to quantify the potential environmental impact, and to compare various forms of milk packaging to attain a sustainable solution for milk packaging.  The
session continued on a high note with the presentation from Aleix
Mas of Comexi Group on ‘Green Printing and packaging Solutions’
followed by David Hill of Technical Absorbents Ltd on ‘Innovative
and Sustainable Fluid Management Solutions for Food packaging
Industry’ where the hot topic of discussion remained the SAF based
food packaging materials. Day One Session II The session II with the theme ‘Value Added Packaging’ commenced after a power packed lunch of networking and industry interaction with a key note address from Jagmohan Mongia of Uflex Ltd., on ‘Value Addition in a Global World’. Some of the most discussed case studies during his address were the packaging solutions used by Parle and the polyethylene and the polypropylene film packaging. The first presentation of the session was by Nick Price of Kodak- Singapore Pte Ltd on ‘Advanced Colour Management’. Setting the tone for some serious Q&A Price compared the Indian packaging scenario with the rest of the world. “The per capita packaging consumption in India is $15 as compared to $100 for the rest of the world. With an ever increasing middle class and a robust retail scenario how do we tap this potential?” he quizzed the audience. The next presentation by Mahesh Kode from Dupont Packaging Graphics on ‘Advances In Plate Making’ kept the tempo high. The session II reached the half way mark with a presentation on’ Advances in Polyfilm Technology, Latest Flexo Technology and Bag Making’ by Rakesh Shah of Windmoller & Holscher India Pvt. Ltd. Post tea; Santosh Acharekar of Henkel CAC Pvt. Ltd picked up the flow with a presentation on ‘EB Curing Top Coat Systems for Surface Printed Substrates’ followed by ‘EB technology for Fast, Safe Curing of Inks’ by Imtiaz Rangwala of Energy Sciences INC. The day one of the PackAge conference was concluded with an hour long Panel- Delegate discussion. “Open platforms of information sharing like the PackAge conference should be encouraged further. The sessions were interactive, informative and very useful. And the fact that we get an opportunity to talk one on one with the speakers is brilliant,” said B N Gupta of Ester Industries, a delegate at the conference. Day Two, Session III 
With the focus on ‘Lean Innovation’ the second day of the PackAge
conference commenced with a key note address by Murizio Salami,
CMZ, Italy on ‘Latest Trends in Packaging Automation’.The first Presenation- ‘Lean Work Flow’ by Antony Conway of Esko- Graphics Pte. Ltd was followed by a presentation on ‘Delivery of Cost Effective Innovation’ by Prabhuddha Dasgupta of Hindustan Unilever. “Packaging Innovation Thrives on Change,” said Dasgupta. “Change in product design, consumer needs, manufacturing process, distrubutuion models and mercnadising are all key to looking at packaging change,” he added. The session broke for tea after a presentation by Ranjit Singh, Ploplex Corporation Ltd. on ‘Lean Innovation in Polymeric Films’. The post noon session saw a presentation on New Innovation in Packing Systems by Avinash Bangle from Bosch Ltd where he gave an overview of ‘Different Flow Pack Styles and Operating Principles’. Concluding session III was a presentation by Jonathan Fowle of Innovati on ‘Innovation in Stand up Pouches’. Day Two, Session IV The session IV with’ Value Added Systems and Services’ as the main focus started with a key note address by Raman Nanda of Bilcare Technologies on ‘Non Clonable Security Systems for Packaging’. The first paper of the session was presented by R Mishra of Indofil Chemicals on ‘Value Added Supply Chain Solution’ followed by Trace and Track Security and Logistics Management by Harvir Singh Sahani of Weldon Celloplat Limited. The session progressed with Nagesh Bakshi of Bakshi Enterprises speaking on ‘Advancements in Coding Technology’ and concluded with a presentation on ‘Automated Systems and New Techonolgy of In Molding Labeling’ by NandKumar T of Witmann automation India Pvt. Ltd. “ The presentations wrapped up paving way for the Panel Discussion. Following the dialogue from the last edition of the PackAge conference on ‘Should the buyer pay more for better quality’, PackAge 2009 held a panel discussion on ‘Adopting International Best Practices for Performance Based Specifications in CFC’s’. 
Delegates present on the dais included converters Pankaj Wadhwa
from MV Wadco India and Ashish Khemka from KCL Ltd and Harish
Madan from Securipax Packaging and end users Sriram Banerjee from
GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd, S. Ainain from Moser Baer
India Ltd and Prabuddha Dasgupta from Hindustan Uniliver Ltd.
S. Chidambaram, Packaging Consultant, was the moderator of the
panel discussion.Madan started the discussion with a presentation on importance of performance based specifications in CFC’s. Dasgupta took it off from there with the users perspective, “A user looks at two things – one how much raw material has been used and other how much did the manufacturer spend on making the boxes.” He said that it is important to have understanding between the two ends. Raising a crucial point, Khemka said that the manufacturers have a fair idea of the material and they can be helpful for the end users as well. “But then, even if the converter takes the lead, it is the end user who has the power to decide on product specifications,” he asserted. Banerjee agreed to the point, though he felt that the understanding between converters and end users is yet at a premature stage. “In last 3-4 years we have seen this revolution in the mutual decision making process. So, it will take some time to bring this fruitful formula in action,” he said. The discussion also brought in queries from the attendees on difference in materials they get from converters at same specifications. Stating the requirement of standarisation of, Khemka said that changes in the small industries would not create any impact on the user and manufacturer thought process. He proposed the MNCs to take lead in deciding on the performance parameters. Chidambaram agreed to this and said that cost concern must not hinder the performance. “Cost management is important than cost reduction,” he claimed. Ainain felt that where primary packaging has been a subject of interest for most of the research based studies, the knowledge on secondary packaging is yet to be assimilated. “In such situation, faith on each other can be helpful for both the converter and the end user. “We as the users of corrugated boxes must trust the manufacturer as that would give them freedom to add value to the product.” He believed that maturity level on both the sides has increased in last few years. “So, finally the relation between a converter and an end user needs to change from a buyer-seller to value partners,” concluded Madan.
Date: 28.07.2009
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